Sanskrit, or Samskrita, is the primary tongue of the villagers in Mattur, or MathurVillage in Karnataka. The village, which is around 10 km from Shimoga, having been making sure that the ancient language flourishes in their village.

The seed for change was sown in 1982, when the organization, Samskruta Bharathi, got together a 10-day programme to teach the villagers spoken Sanskrit. And, people in this primarily agricultural society eagerly took part in the unique experiment. Now, Sanskrit has become the primary tongue for many of the residents.

This village and the neighboring Hosahalli are mainly populated by Sanketis, who speak Sanskrit at home. And, it is not just them who speak the language. The village has a fair share of people from other communities, and all of them are exposed to Sanskrit. Local teachers attribute the fluency to the dedication with which a “new language’ was learnt.

Another village that converses in Sanskrit in India is Jhiri village in Rajgarh District of Madhya Pradesh. This was reported a year ago in the visual media.